Everything gets wrapped up – perhaps a touch too easily but the zombies were a big help and the McCreadys know how to work the small town gossip grapevine. I’m satisfied with the comeuppance of the villain. The lives of Frankie’s cousins are moving along nicely and she finally takes a quiet stand for adulthood responsibilities. Her parents are loosening up about giving her quality lecturing – “both pointed and guilt inducing, without being over the top.” Eric is fitting in – “One day, I will understand the things that this family says, and on that day I will be … so scared.” Her parents might wince a bit when Eric comes over for dinner, an evening of mutant shark films (a friend of mine has the whole oeuvre) and sex but I think Eric and Frankie have got things worked out. B

A Favorite!

Let’s start with the easy part: this isn’t your ordinary rom com – with plenty of romance and just a little comedic relief, it’s full of laugh out loud moments, plenty of family and one feisty (if occasionally frustrating) mortician named Frankie and her ongoing feud with local spoilt-brat teenaged nuisance, the new cop in town and plenty of growth. Frankie, after a childhood battle with leukemia, is the mortician and county coroner based in the McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. Prone to wild rainbow-colored hair, speaking her mind, a collection of Funko Pop figurines and a novelty t-shirt collection that would put any self-respecting geek to shame: she’s also deeply rooted in the small town of Lake Sackett, determined to give all of her “customers’ the best treatment, including moments spent in conversation thanking them for the joy they brought in life, and how their presence will be missed. A conundrum for sure, she’s also nearing 30, still living at home with her mother and father, and uses her outrageous behavior to push limits and boundaries everywhere.

Of course, if you’ve read (and why haven’t you – go get the others and start them first) earlier books in the series, you’ll know that the town has hired Eric as interim chief of police – the one remaining officer Landry is “not ready for that sort of responsibility. Maybe he should start with a nice ant farm.” Eric and Frankie shared one athletic and memorable night in Atlanta while she was on one of her weekend forays into adulting without parental or familial interference, and neither was quite prepared to see one another again, let alone work together. Especially since Eric is suspicious and sees every death as a potential murder. But, again little Lewis is determined to wreak havoc at the funeral home- and Frankie is ‘on the case’ – despite Eric’s protests.

With the big “Trunk or Treat” Halloween event approaching, Frankie knows that the stakes are even higher with Lewis and his attempts to break into the mortuary, and plenty of steam arising between she and Eric despite his inability to be around death, the story is laden with mishaps, laughs and plenty of revelations for Frankie: including one large show-down for Lewis, an election for Sherriff and Lewis’ mother being in the middle of the mayhem with a write in candidate and a smear campaign, the story never stops giving. Of course, there is Aunt Tootie and her motley collection of dogs, a swear jar, Margot and her budding relationship with Kyle, the elementary school principal and his daughters, the youngest prone to exclamations in ALL CAPS, the story and the characters draw you into Lake Sackett, “working like ants on a discarded blow-pop” with their charm, heart and loyalty. A favorite as Harper’s trademark snarky humor and clever twists keep the laughs coming, but as she does with each book I’ve read from her, it’s the characters: those flawed humans that work into your heart and head, and make you want to find this little corner of Georgia to call it your home.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-9H2/”> <a> I am, Indeed </a>

This is the fourth book in Molly Harper’s series called Southern Eclectic. (Actually, there are 2 full length Novels, and 2 short novellas.) This series, about a small, interesting, strange town in Georgia has very colorful characters and I enjoyed getting to know them. I had read the first book in this series, ( Sweet Tea and Sympathy ), but this book is totally a standalone. Frankie McCready who is the coroner and part of the huge McCready family is the main character of this book. Eric Linden is the new sheriff in town and thus starts an interesting, and quirky romance. A sweet, funny rom com that I enjoyed! Fans of Sandra Hill’s Cajun series will love this book and series

I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent in the Southern Eclectic series getting to know the McCready family and following along as they sort out love, life, and family in their small southern lakeside town so I was glad to get Frankie’s story.
Sophia Rose’s Review

Ain’t She a Peach is book two of the series and could work as a standalone in a pinch if the reader doesn’t mind references to two of the cousins already getting their stories and getting a little follow up in the background of Frankie’s story. Ain’t She a Peach is also preceded by Peachy Freakin’ Keen which is a shorter novella introducing Franky and the good sheriff who start off on an acrimonious foot and it continues into this book.

It’s fall and Lake Sackett is winding up on the tourist trade and focusing on the Trunk or Treat, Sheriff’s election, and small town gossip. Frankie McCready is losing her focus as she juggles the age-old problem of convincing her parents she’s a twenty-eight year old who wants to move out and do some adulting. She also is recently discovering some wistfulness when around her cousins who are all starting to settle down in solid relationships and raise families which is odd since she holds fast to her ‘hit it and quit it’ program and keeps telling herself that she doesn’t want all that other stuff and its not for her. Kinda tough though when she can’t go anywhere without bumping into the hottie interim sheriff who is not beguiled by her beguiling ways. In the meantime, she has to contact the sheriff and get him involved in the personal vendetta she has with a local teen who antagonizes her and constantly tries to sabotage or break into the family mortuary.

So, I liked it and it was a easy-going, fun read, but… I didn’t love it. I have ambivalent feelings about Frankie and the romance with Eric. If I treat this like a crossover women’s fiction then the romance isn’t so problematic because the focus is on Frankie figuring things out about herself, but if I read it as contemporary romance then I needed a bit of something more.

The broader focus on Frankie’s family and life in the town, small town antics, adorable rescue dogs, PTA meetings, and more was my favorite part of the book. I love the emphasis on small town and family particularly this family who run a funeral home and bait shop out of the same property and most of the family live in cabins on the property.

In the earlier novella, I ended it with a wait and see attitude when it came to Frankie. She struck me as full of herself, but in the end, she was starting to suspect that she might be pampered by her family as a result of surviving childhood leukemia and she had bought into this herself in her words and actions. The sheriff, Eric Linden, confronted her about it when she willfully did an end around him when he was just doing his job with due diligence and her cousins told her that he had a point.
But, much of this book goes by with no change. She puts Eric in a hard place a few times with his job and had some immature moments. I don’t mean to say that she’s mean or can’t be kind and loving because she is. It’s sweet how she cares for the dead to make them look good and talks to them, determined to do the best for the grieving families.
She’s content to let her parents spoil her even while complaining about it and doing nothing to change this so she doesn’t hurt their feelings. It’s funny, but also a little weird.
Eric challenges her, but unfortunately he has his own issues so she can ignore her issues to point out his. She is still fighting her attraction or the possibility of a regular dating relationship late in the book. So, yes, I was on the fence about her though she does manage to work things through by the end.

This is funny in ways- and its meant to be as they banter back and forth and comedic things happen when they’re together, her family does crazy stuff, and the Trunk or Treat event takes on a nightmare life of its own.

So, all in all, I had a good time with the book. It’s light and laugh out loud funny in spots. Frankie took a while to figure things out, but she does eventually get there. It ends on a happy for now and I suspect that it will be like the earlier stories that carry on in the background of the next book. Even though this won’t be my favorite, I loved quite a bit about the book and hope the series continues. Those looking for some heartwarming family, small town antics, humor, and lightly spiced romantic comedy should give this series a go.

Frankie McCready is kind of the oddball in her family. A Leukemia survivor, she knows what it’s like to be on the edge of death’s door, so she lives life for every moment, not really caring what anyone else thinks. She’s got multi-hued died hair, has an eclectic wardrobe and her job is the embalmer and county coroner for the family business, McCready’s Funeral Home and Bait Shop. When a one night stand moves to Lake Sackett from Atlanta to be their new sheriff, Frankie realizes that it might just be time to grow up.

Frankie has been one of my favorite characters in this series. She loves her family and cousins, and has always given great advice regarding their lives and relationships. She has allowed her parents to baby her since she has been in remission and it’s only when Eric moves to town that she realizes how unhealthy that’s been for her parents and for herself. Her cousins are eager to give her advice after being on the receiving end their whole lives and those scenes are charming and real.

Eric has his own reasons for moving to Lake Sackett. He’s running from his past and is surprised when he finds a familiar face in their county coroner. Even though they have a prickly relationship he doesn’t give up trying to win this wacky woman. Both Eric and Frankie have trauma in their pasts to overcome and it was nice to see them work together, in a somewhat crazy way, to find a way to be together. I really liked this installment of Molly Harper’s Southern Eclectic series and have yet to be disappointed in the residents of Lake Sackett. They are kooky, fun, but more importantly they all seem to really care about each other which makes it easy for the reader to care about them in return. If you are looking for an easy Chick Lit novel for a summer vacation, pick up any book in this series, you can read them as stand alone’s too!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest!

Title and author: Ain't She a Peach by Molly Harper
Series: Southern Eclectic - Book 4
Publisher: Gallery Books
Releases: June 12, 2018
Purchase: https://tinyurl.com/ycnzccqs
Genre: Contemporary
Author Website: https://www.mollyharper.com/
Rating: 4.5 Stars

The down-home charm in the Southern Eclectic series is definitely evident in the fourth book, as the easygoing lifestyle of residents in a small Georgia town are explored through their daily routines and some unexpected incidents. With the main focus on Frankie McCready, I got to see how this vibrant woman came to possess such a lively personality, and why she has a vulnerable side that keeps her from moving forward. She is part of a very close-knit family, who are supportive yet also nosey. As Frankie tries to change several aspects of her life, circumstances surrounding these changes can become complicated plus often lead to amusing situations. Hilarity is guaranteed when reading a book by Molly Harper, and AIN’T SHE A PEACH has an abundance of sidesplitting episodes.

Sometimes Frankie McCready just needs to get away from all her well-meaning relatives in Lake Sackett, Georgia, so she goes to Atlanta for a night of fun. While the last man with whom she hooked up made the visit very pleasurable, she never planned to see him again. It seems fate did not agree, because Eric Linden has moved to her hometown since he is the new sheriff.

With Frankie being the county coroner plus working at the local funeral home which belongs to her family, she and Eric run into each other rather frequently. She really gets ticked off when he continues to act like an Atlanta cop and wants her to make certain numerous local deaths were not foul play. Yet when someone keeps attempting to break inside the locked funeral home, Frankie knows it is time to work with Eric to find the culprit, regardless of how she feels about him.

Much enjoyment is had from the start of AIN’T SHE A PEACH, and the entertainment continues until the last captivating word is read. Molly Harper is known for creating wacky situations for her characters to experience, and some of those in this story had me laughing loudly as a result of the visuals that I pictured. Since many of the people living in Lake Sackett say what they think, comments are also often witty because no filter is used. Frankie is especially guilty of making a remake without first thinking it through, which led to some colorful rebuttals. Most of the delightful individuals from the previous books make an appearance, and catching up with each person was certainly wonderful.

A relationship with Eric does not seem very probable with Frankie’s attitude, so observing these two interact and converse was engaging. They are nothing alike, yet a few heartfelt chats give them new insight and leave them pondering the possibilities. The events dealing with what is happening at the funeral home are intriguing, and I enjoyed seeing what direction these adventures would go. Hope there are more books in the series, because I always like revisiting these appealing characters.

I voluntarily reviewed the book from the publisher via NetGalley, and all comments are my honest opinion

Molly Harper is a new to me author but I absolutely could not resist the bright cover and fun synopsis. Diving into the book, I was super excited because I was instantly in love with Ms. Harper’s writing style. The characters were funny, the town was quaint, the accents were great. I was especially enamored with the quirky, rainbow-haired, Frankie. She shined as a coroner who talks with her dead people and loves her job. When the surly new sheriff and apparent former one night stand of Frankie’s enters the picture, I was all in.

Unfortunately, the book veered off course with me from there. I was disappointed that Frankie’s relationship with Eric seemed like more of an afterthought in the story arc. Not by choice, I was more invested in Frankie’s relationships/dynamics with everyone else in her family and town than I was with her romantic relationship with Eric.

Frankie was a multidimensional character with flaws, a weird dynamic with her parents, and lots of baggage. I am glad she worked through many of them through the course of the novel and grew personally. I wish there had more of a happily ever after with Eric than a happy for now. I am sure we will get more of her story in the next book because we got lots of information about her cousin Margot, the heroine of the first novel.

I am now fully invested in the town and the characters so I will probably read the rest of the series. The dialogue was witty and I laughed at the antics and banter many times. I wish there had been much more romance and a more focused story line.

Loved it! I laughed. I cried. I didn't want it to end. There is a swear jar, so it isn't totally squeaky clean, but nothing truly offensive. I am eager to read more by Molly Harper.

Frankie McCready is used to being seen as eccentric. As Lake Sackett's coroner it pretty much comes with the territory. Even though Frankie has a penchant for talking to the dead, she respects them, and she loves her job. That's why when someone keeps trying to break into the mortuary, she takes it personally. Frankie knows exactly who the perpetrator is, in fact she's been involved in a prank war of sorts with this particular individual for quite some time. The only problem is convincing the new town sheriff that the issue is legit and not just Frankie holding a grudge. The fact that Sheriff Eric Linden and Frankie had a one night stand before he moved to Lake Sackett, and they haven't talked about it since, doesn't help matters between the two. His reluctance to initially believe Frankie, coupled with his penchant for always assuming homicide as the reason for deaths in Lake Sakett, only makes Frankie more interested about who Eric Linden is and what brought him to Lake Sackett from Atlanta.

After reading what I can only call an extremely long prologue to this story in Peachy Flippin' Keen, I was excepting something different with finally getting Frankie's full-length story in Ain't She a Peach. I figured it would focus more on building the relationship between Eric and Frankie, but I felt like what we got was more an internal rumination on Frankie's life and wanting to break out of the confines she's built for herself by still living with her parents and suffering from anxiety and hypochondria due to her diagnosis of Leukemia when she was a child. She obviously pulled through and is in remission, but the whole thing has left its scars.

So, those were the main focuses of Frankie's full-length book with the developing attraction between Eric and Frankie as a secondary story thread. I didn't mind the turn, I actually like when I'm surprised by the path an author decides to take with their story, but I felt like we lost a little bit of what made Frankie such a standout character in the previous book / novellas. She's this bright, energetic, pop culture-loving, rainbow hair-colored survivor. While I liked and agreed with most of the catharsis, I missed a little bit of that brightness.

Since the relationship was more relegated to secondary it became ensconced in Frankie's goal of gaining her independence. I really loved the way it was handled once I figured it wasn't going to be the prominent fixture. There's a nonchalance to the relationship. I liked that there's not much made by Frankie or Eric about the whole one-night stand thing. There are some missteps along the way, but as I said they're part of Frankie's realization that her life has been relatively sheltered.

One thing that stood out a bit better this time around was the closeness of the McCready cousins Marianne, Margot, Duffy, and Frankie. I felt like we really saw them band together more as a unit of the next generation of McCready's than in the previous books / novellas. I can only assume Duffy's book is next (since he's the only one left) so I hope this is a trend that continues.

Molly Harper hasn't let me down yet and I've really been enjoying this small-town southern family series, and I'm looking forward to see what happens next.

Thank you Net Galley for my ARC of "Ain't She a Peach". This was a good easy read. I enjoyed the main character, Frankie, and her sassy personality.

Frankie is out to finally prove that Jared Lewis has been the one for years messing with her family mortuary/bait shop and trying to break in. She enlists the help of new town hottie and police officer, Eric. It's a funny read that highlights what it's like to live in a small town.

OMG! I LOVED THIS STORY! Ain't She a Peach? is a sweet sometimes silly sometimes sad small town romance that will leave you believing in possibilities. Eric is a big city cop who has moved to tiny Lake Sackett and runs into a one night stand he hasn’t been able to forget. Franky is a quirky character in her small town. With rainbow hair, eclectic clothes and attitude to spare Frankie takes her job as mortician and coroner very seriously. Now she has to work with the hunk she ran out on. Can the big city cop and the country mouse put their differences aside and learn to get along. I can tell you it won’t be easy but it can be done.
Well done.

After reading the second book, I am officially hooked on the Southern Eclectic series. I am invested in and care deeply about the residents of Lake Sackett, old and new. In the first book we got to see Margot move to town and find love. In this book, Lake Sackett native, Frankie, finally finds her place. I enjoyed her unusual profession of mortician. Harper's writing is funny, true, and thoroughly entertaining. I can't wait for more!

I liked Frankie in the previous book I read in this series and was eager to see her get her story.

Frankie is fun. She’s snarky and sarcastic and I love all of her fandom things. She’s super loyal and yet yearning to break out on her own. Eric is a good man and has strong convictions. And of course there’s loads of family members

Plot wise it was just okay. This book didn’t seem to focus on the relationship of Frankie and Eric and much as it presented a slice of time and at times it felt like I was missing something I was expecting to know. I didn’t see any of the chemistry between them and would have liked to see more conversation.

Overall, it was a quick read with a fairly satisfying ending. I’m not sure if I’ll be reading any more books in this series.

**Huge thanks to Gallery Books for providing the arc free of charge**

I'm a huge fan of Molly Harper, light hearted reading at its best. So much fun to read , the characters just come to life

Last year Sweet Tea and Sympathy was one of my favorite reads, it had all of the elements I need in fun women’s fiction so I’ve been dying to read the second book in Harper’s Southern Eclectic series for months. The wait was well worth it, the second installment was just as witty and charming as the first and I really hope Harper continues to write about the kooky residents of Lake Sackett for a long time.

One of my favorite things about this series is the fun cast of characters and when I saw that this book would focus on Frankie I was delighted. She’s a quirky chick who doesn’t take crap from anyone and she’s also sarcastic, but charming when needed, a combination that always works well for me. Her budding relationship with Eric was not only adorable, it wasn’t formulaic or predictable. You also get to catch up with the characters from the first book and seeing what Margot was up to was just delightful.

This was a strong follow up to a hilarious series, the ultimate pick me up that I read at just the right time. You can’t read this without smiling, it’s got sassy southern charm by the bucketful and a little romance that will make you swoon, what more could a girl want?!

Ain’t She a Peach in three words: Humorous, Sassy, and Cheeky.

Molly Harper is adept at creating fictional towns and making each of her books feel like an exciting vacation escape. This second trip to her newest town, Lake Sackett, feels quite a bit like her previous books -- a snarky and lovable heroine, a budding romance, some light conflict, and some opportunities to giggle aloud while you're reading -- and I mean that as a great compliment. It's a winning formula, and I can't stop myself from excitedly pre-ordering everything she writes.

This book series is such fun! I have so enjoyed reading this series and getting to know the whole McCready gang along with the inhabitants of Lake Sackett.

This addition focuses mostly on the coroner and embalmer Frankie McCready. Having survived a bout of cancer when younger she has been mostly sheltered by her parents and never ventured out on her own or had a real relationship. That seems about to change when her one night stand and the new sheriff, Eric, comes to town. But something is odd with him and of course Frankie and her family can't just leave well enough alone. Not to mention someone keeps breaking into the funeral home and Frankie is bound and determined to find out who is behind it and put a stop to it.

Frankie McCready isn't quite what the good folks of Lake Sackett, Georgia, expected, but they're glad she's there. She's starting to get used to them, and they to her. The same can't be said, though, for former Atlanta-cop and current new sheriff in town, Eric Linden. Frankie is nothing like he expected a small-town coroner to be, and the sparks between them fly – in more ways than one – almost from the very beginning.

As with the first book in this series, I found the story to be entirely predictable, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The characters were every bit as entertaining as they were in the first installment, and their antics made me smile (and even laugh outright from time to time), and caused me to give thanks for my almost boring "normal" family. I still want to visit Lake Sackett, but only if I can meet Aunt Tootie and the rest of the family! I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

I really enjoyed Sweet Tea & Sympathy and would still recommend you read that. Alas, I wanted so much more from Frankie’s story.

Frankie was one of my favorite side characters in Sweet Tea and I was really looking forward to learning more about what made her tick, as well as getting the behind the scenes of her work as a coroner.

I didn’t fully understand Frankie’s codependent relationship with her parents, although I could understand how it started. But it still seemed bizarre that she not only lived at home at age 28 but her parents tracked her whereabouts through her cell phone, cooked for her and monitored her junk food intake, and generally babied her. And no one else in the extended family called them out for this! I was glad she wanted to get her own place but it really bothered me how long it took her to take even one small step toward freedom. I mean, she’s such a badass and she was not acting like it when it came to her family.

This was pretty much the pattern for my reading experience. It was fun to read but it kept veering into Over The Top territory and the characters kept doing and saying things that just didn’t make sense. I also couldn’t understand why the town viewed Frankie as a freak. Is that really how they would treat a coroner or was it because she was a female coroner? The funeral home is such a fascinating setting and I didn’t buy that the whole town would be creeped out by its steady presence.

Now it’s possible this is just how small towns can be but the Over The Topness of it all started to get to me. The characters stopped feeling like people and were more like caricatures.

But more than that, there was barely a love story in here for this being a romance novel. Eric was a fascinating character. I loved how he and Frankie sparred with one another and I loved getting to hear more of his backstory. I wanted so much more of this. By the time they got together at all, the book was almost over and that was before the major conflict, which was then wrapped up way too quickly.

This one just didn’t work for me. But I’ll still read the next book in the series because there’s such promise here.

Molly Harper's Southern Eclectic books are beginning to be known as fun, engaging and funny. Her characters are eccentric, funny, interesting and extremely likable. Characters from the first book (Sweet Tea and Sympathy) are in this book! This book can work as a standalone, but I encourage you to read both books because they are both quirky and light. These are perfect for when you need a change of pace, are in a reading slump or just want to read an entertaining book!

Eric Linden is an ex-Atlanta police officer who moved to Lake Sackett, Georgia to serve as the town Sheriff in hopes for a slower paced life and job. At his old job he was used to high crime rates and murder with a lot of foul play in most of the cases. He finds out while working at his new job that the woman he had a past with, Frankie McCready, not only lives in the town, but is employed by McCready Family Funeral Home & Bait Shop as the town coroner and embalmer. Yep, it is a bait shop and funeral home...because you can get your bait and die at the same time!!

Frankie is one of those characters that is very interesting. She always has a different hair color and not the color that's normal. She's always keeping the good sheriff on his toes and she has a sarcastic sense of humor that sometimes the sheriff doesn't find funny. But what can you do? Look at her job!! When they're both thrown together to try and find out who's been breaking into the funeral home after hours - they both get a little closer than they thought they would.

I really am enjoying this series and hope it continues. I can't wait to see what happens in the books to come.